Optical Carrier-Wave Subcycle Structures Associated with Supercritical Collapse of Long-Wavelength Intense Pulses Propagating in Weakly Anomalously Dispersive Media

We predict the emergence of attosecond-duration structures on an optical carrier wave when intense, long-wavelength pulses propagate through bulk media with weak anomalous dispersion. Under certain conditions, these structures can undergo a new type of carrier-resolved supercritical collapse, formin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2020-01, Vol.124 (4), p.043901-043901, Article 043901
Main Authors: Hofstrand, A, Moloney, J V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carrier waves
Collapse
Computer simulation
Pulse propagation
Wave propagation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We predict the emergence of attosecond-duration structures on an optical carrier wave when intense, long-wavelength pulses propagate through bulk media with weak anomalous dispersion. Under certain conditions, these structures can undergo a new type of carrier-resolved supercritical collapse, forming infinite spatiotemporal gradients in the field. The mathematical conditions for the onset of this singularity are briefly overviewed, and we demonstrate with a full 3D+time (3+1) simulation that such structures persist under realistic conditions for a 10 micron laser pulse propagating in air.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.043901